Smart water metering growing fast in Europe and North America

The number of smart water metering endpoints in North America and Europe is set to more than double by 2028, Berg Insight has reported.

In a recent report, Berg Insight estimates that the number of water AMI endpoints in North America will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 11.3% over the next five years, while that in Europe is expected to grow at a rate of 16.3%.

Over the past two decades water AMI solutions have evolved, opening up new possibilities for water utilities to make substantial enhancements of operational efficiency, reduce non-revenue water and greatly improve water conservation schemes, Berg Insight points out.

“Today, the term smart metering has become a buzz word within the water sector that is to be considered synonymous with the concept of AMI.”

Have you read?
What the water AMI market can learn from electric utilities
Energy Transitions Podcast: Smart water at the heart of sustainable cities

North America is the leading market for both water AMR and AMI solutions globally, with an installed base of about 86.5 million active water utility AMR and AMI endpoints, representing a penetration of around 75%, at the end of 2022.

Of these, AMI accounted for 38 million and a penetration of more than 33%.

The number of water AMI endpoints in North America is forecast to reach 72.3 million units in 2028, driven primarily by utilities seeking to replace existing AMR solutions.

Europe is the second-largest market for water AMR and AMI solutions.

At the end of 2022, the installed base of active water utility AMR and AMI endpoints was about 68.6 million, translating into a penetration rate of approximately 45%, with just 17.8 million AMI endpoints for a penetration of around 12%.

The number is forecast to reach 44.1 million units in 2028 as markets such as Italy, the UK, Scandinavia and the DACH and Benelux regions grow alongside the historically primary markets of France and Spain.

Standards and vendors

Berg Insight reports that a variety of proprietary and standards-based communications technologies are being used for water AMI deployments.

In North America, proprietary RF networking platforms have completely dominated the market and accounted for as much as 92% of the installed base of AMI endpoints in 2022.

Meanwhile, various proprietary and open-standard RF technologies based on the EN 13757 standard accounted for roughly 47% of the AMI endpoints installed in Europe, with Wize as the single most deployed technology.

LoRaWAN and 3GPP-based LPWA technologies were also noted as emerging as real contenders within the water AMI markets – particularly LTE-M in the US and LoRaWAN and NB-IoT in Europe.

Berg Insight also reports that the water AMI and AMR markets in the two regions are largely served by local or regional players, with only a few companies such as Itron, Sensus (Xylem), Honeywell, Kamstrup, the Arad Group and the Minol-ZENNER Group, having managed to establish a major presence in both regions.

At the end of 2022, the top five water AMI endpoint vendors in North America in terms of installed base were Sensus, Badger Meter, Itron, Aclara and the Neptune Technology Group.

The top five water AMI endpoint vendors in Europe comprised Diehl Metering, Itron, Birdz (Veolia), Sensus and Kamstrup. SUEZ subsidiary SUEZ Smart Solutions also constitutes a key player in the European water AMI market by having been instrumental to the development and deployment of Wize technology.